For Want of a Stu
by SUPERIOR Ratman
Summary: Meet Gary. He's a Fanfiction Writer, or at least he was, until he outgrew the lame, self-insert Mary - or in this case - Gary Stu stories he was flamed for. Unfortunately for him, the world of Naruto is not quite done with him yet. When plot holes from his former stories drive the land he'd created to chaos, he's called back to fix the mess he'd created, whether he wants to or not.


Plot Holes.

How does one define them? Do they ramble on about gaps and inconsistencies that just don't make sense? Do they mention the omission of relevant information that could change the scenario as a whole? Maybe they explained the impossible actions that occur because of one, or just tried their best to ignore them completely. Regardless of what is to be said about Plot Holes, only one thing is certain.

They are annoying.

This fact rings true no matter where you go. No matter how little they are, or how insignificant they appear to be, one cannot help but notice the lack of logic that emerges from the existence of such a thing. Fortunately, for many writers a Plot Hole could easily be remedied, perhaps with an additional line of dialogue or added event that explains away that lack of logic.

It was unfortunate this was not the case for poor Gary Stu.

You see, at this particular time, Gary was in quite the pickle. His equipment was overwhelming outdated, his hands were tied – no thanks to the hateful woman who'd put him in the situation to begin with mind you – and last, but certainly not least, he was bleeding.

Now, depending on who you are and how you feel about poor Gary here that last one may not have seem like such a big deal. However, when one considers the order of events that allowed Gary to find himself in such a pickle in the first place, perhaps you'll come to realize that maybe it wasn't so good he was bleeding after all.

Or not. That really depends on you dear reader, and whether or not you often find yourselves enjoying the despairing situations story protagonists find themselves in. Either way, in order to understand in full the horrific journey that our young, unlikely hero undertook, we must of course, journey back to where this entire story got started in the first place.

The Beginning.

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Gary Stu**

* * *

Gary "Gregory Alexander Richardson Yankee Samuel Too-many-names Ulfric" Stu was in a bind. For the past nine hours, he had been holed up in his bedroom, revising the monstrosity that was his High School English paper in a futile attempt to save his dwindling GPA. For some reason, the teacher, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, had taken to singling him out, pointing out _all_ the little errors he'd made in public just to see what sort of reaction he'd get.

How troublesome.

Really, the way the teacher explained it you'd think Gary was the worst writer on the face of the earth. The young Stu didn't know why his teacher hated him so much. It wasn't like he had ever wronged the man in particular. Hell, he knew for a fact that he wasn't even the worst writer in the room! _That_ particular honor belonged to young Sophie Harker, self-proclaimed HP author extraordinaire.

She was a small young girl, seemingly cute and innocent, that was until she opened her mouth. What billowed forth could only be described as madness, capable of driving even the sanest of men batshit crazy. It was no wonder so many of her "stories" had wound up on the blacklist. No one wanted to read them, even on pain of death.

Fortunately, you, dear reader, will not be forced to endure the madness that afflicted so many fictions, most notably the well-known HP and Sparkly Vampire societies. Can anyone say POINTLESS CAPS AND INCORRECT _SPLELING_? I can!

Ahem.

Moving on, Gary knew full well the depths to which Sophie's madness went. After all, he too had once been a part of the mad craze that had swept over the classroom. You see, deep down in the most vile and wicked parts of Gary's memory, he kept a cruel, dark secret.

Once upon a time he too, wrote mindless self-insert fics.

Not for HP and Sparkly Vampires mind you, he at least had the decency to stay away from those particular fanbases. Instead, he had turned his attention to the anime fields. Bleach and One Piece, Fairy Tail and Dragonball. Even so, out of the many choices he'd had, only one continued to strike out at him conceptually.

Naruto.

Gary didn't know what it was about the orange-loving ninja that kept bringing him back, or if it was the main character in the first place that made him stay. All he knew was that at the time, he'd wanted nothing more than to become a part of that world, to descend into the madness Kishimoto had created and help fight against the cruel, overwhelming power of Orochimaru and Akatsuki.

He'd written so many stories.

Adventure fics, where he stole the position of protagonist from Naruto and swept in a new era of peace; romance attempts filled with bad writing and out of character dialogue... It made him laugh now when he thought back to those many hours spent typing away behind the keyboard. What a fool he'd been, what a fool he was!

As expected, he'd received far too many flames to account. Every once and a while he'd receive an honest critique ridiculing his often-used character – Gari Ztu – and encouraging him to go read a dictionary every once and a while… but he had endured. Despite the flames, despite the cruel reviews, he had endured. At least until _that_ day… the day he read _that_ person's review.

There had been no username, the author of the traumatizing review entering under the anonymous "Guest" label. Oftentimes it was they who left single-sentence flames, attempting to dishearten young Gary. They had failed, until _he _came along.

The review he'd left was detailed, thorough, pointing out each mistake Gary had made, revealing every single plot hole and illogical event – by Naruto standards of course – Gary created in each story. Needless to say, the effect had been devastating. Instantly, his readers stopped reading. His motivation began to die away piece by piece.

That was when he stopped.

Now, a good year and a half later, Gary sat at his desk, continuing to type away at the keys in a futile attempt to revise his latest essay - a literary review of _A Wrinkle in Time_.

He never quite thought a real wrinkle would occur while doing so.

"Gary," his mother called from the hallway, "I'm turning in for the night. Do you need anything else before I tuck in?"

The boy shook his head, just as he always did. "No mother," he assured the middle-aged woman, "I'll be fine. Thanks."

He waited for the confirming sound of a quiet "alright" before turning his attention back to the screen. He didn't expect to see what he did.

"_Hello Gary."_ his screen slowly typed out in front of him, _"Ready to think on your sins?"_

"What the hell…?" Gary whispered to himself, pressing his keyboard's backspace button in an attempt to delete the message. The cursor didn't budge, and neither did the words.

"_It won't work."_ more words suddenly popped up beneath the others, _"This computer is under an immense Genjutsu. Don't ask how we managed it."_

"Genjutsu…?" Gary frowned, staring at the computer in confusion. "Like Naruto?"

"_Naruto doesn't know Genjutsu, baka. Really, I knew you were dumb, but you really don't know the story at all, do you?"_

Gary didn't know which was harder to believe: the fact his computer just called him stupid, or that it managed to respond to what he was saying almost immediately.

"No. I know that," he found himself saying despite himself, "I meant, the series – Naruto."

"_Oh. That makes a bit more sense then. You should have been more specific."_

"I should have been more specific-? What the hell?! Computers can't talk!"

"_Idiot. I already told you I'm not a computer. I'm just controlling yours. Step back a bit, I'm about to come through."_

"I'm not about to do anything for you, whoever you are-" Gary cut himself off, his eyes bulging in surprise as his computer screen suddenly rippled and twisted. "The hell-?!"

A large pulse rang out through his room, knocking him off his chair onto the floor below as a large glowing portal burst from his computer screen. It grew larger, encompassing his desk in full before another pulse rang out through the room, depositing a bun-haired female directly on top of him.

"Oof! Sorry about that, Neji said it'd be a rough landing when I went but… I wasn't quite sure what he'd meant until now. You alright down there?"

The girl looked down, staring into Gary's flushing red face.

"It's fine…" he mumbled, "Just, mind getting off me now?"

The girl was happy to comply. In a great display of athletic ability, she flipped backward, landing on his bed gently before turning to glance at him again expectantly. Gary just sighed, pulling his head off the cold floor before making to examine the girl himself.

She was of average height, dressed in what appeared to be a white battle dress. Her hair – dark and brown – sat in a pair of twin buns, settling just above her steely gray eyes. Atop her forehead sat the unmistakable headband of a Konohagakure Ninja.

Gary blinked after the girl curiously. She looked rather familiar, like someone he ought to recognize… and he could have sworn she had said something about someone named Neji-

"So, how long are you going to sit there staring at me? It's getting kind of creepy you know." the girl said, folding her arms impatiently.

"Ah! Sorry." Gary apologized, though he felt like he really shouldn't be. It wasn't like _he_ was the one who just broke into someone's house through a computer. Speaking of which- "Who are you?"

"You don't recognize me?" the girl frowned, as if disappointed.

"Er… should I? I mean, I understand you're wearing the Naruto Headband and everything but… do I know you? You don't look like a cosplayer I've ever met…." Gary rubbed his chin in thought. "How'd you get here anyway?"

The girl's eyes narrowed, and she leapt off the bed to lean down and grab Gary's chin firmly. She pulled his head forward, glancing into his eyes angrily as she spoke.

"You really don't recognize me? How's that even possible?" she said, one of her eyebrows raising curiously, "You _are_ Gary Stu aren't you? Occupant of 529 Wong Way Street?"

"Yeah, that's right."

The girl suddenly began to throttle him back and forth. "Then WHY – THE – HELL – DO – YOU – NOT – RECOGNIZE – ME?!"

She released him just as suddenly as she'd grabbed him, leaving him to grip his throat in pain as he wheezed out several breaths hurriedly.

"Gah! What the hell's wrong with you?! You could have killed me!"

"Oh please. I didn't even scratch you." The girl muttered, quickly climbing back to her feet and reaching for a scroll. "Well, this makes things harder. I'd hoped you'd realize who I was so we could skip the long detailed explanation, but since you don't seem to have that great of a memory this'll take longer than I thought."

"O-kay?" Gary asked, "You still haven't answered my questions you know. Who are you? What are you doing here, and what's with the giant blue – portal – thing?"

"It's a portal, obviously." the girl drawled, "I'd thought even you'd be able to figure out that much. Then again, you _are_ Gary Stu so I suppose anything's possible."

Gary had the suspicion he was being insulted, but didn't bother with a retort. He still had no clue who this girl was, or what she was doing in his room – much less how she knew so much about him. The girl glanced at him yet again and sighed.

"Well, there's no helping it then." she groaned, setting her hands on her hips impatiently, "The name's Tenten, ring any bells?"

"Tenten?" Gary asked, studying the girl's appearance once more. "Now that you mention it… you are wearing a pretty good cosplay of her… and you were talking about Neji a while ago as well…. What? Was there a convention or something I didn't know about?"

"Cosplay? Convention?" Tenten tilted her head in confusion, "What are you going on about? No – Never mind. We don't have the time to worry about it. I need you to come with me, _now._"

"What? Like hell! I still have to finish my English paper, and besides, I don't even know you! You're lucky I haven't already called the cops-!" Gary shut up as several large metal swords pierced the wall behind him. "E-Eh?"

He turned slowly, seeing how close each and every blade came to stabbing him before releasing a horrified shriek.

"H-Holy shit! Are you crazy?! You could've killed me!"

"If only…" Tenten muttered beneath her breath, glaring fiercely before grabbing the boy by the collar. "Listen you. I'm cold, tired, and quite frankly, in no mood to deal with whatever "problems" you think you're having at the moment, so I'm gonna give you two choices. Either you get in the portal, or I _make_ you get in the portal, got it?"

Gary glowered at Tenten. He knew he couldn't go against her directly, not when she had god knows how many swords stuffed up her – wherever girls hid though sort of things. He raised his hands in surrender, a deep frown making its way across his face.

"Fine. But don't blame me when the cops show up to arrest you. I hear they don't take to kindly to kidnappers, regardless the age of the victim."

"Hmph… sorry," Tenten smirked, leading him inside, "But where we're going, I doubt anyone else will be able to follow."

She threw him into the swirling mass of doom, and Gary knew no more.


End file.
